Did we really survive?

February 1987 at around 10pm my wife and I were on our way home. We were southbound on the 605 freeway, about one mile from the I-405 interchange -- I was driving. Suddenly in the darkness ahead I saw a very large silhouette in our lane. It appeared to be a large sofa-sized object. To avoid it, I instinctively swerved left and then immediately tried to straighten. Just at that moment the rear tires of the car lost their grip and we started spinning. We did two complete 360-degree spins while continuing going south. Time seemed to slow down. With each spin we could see headlights coming directly at us.
We heard no horns honking and saw no other swerving vehicles. For those two spins we were both frozen.
We came to a stop in the middle of the road, straddling the second and third lanes of the southbound roadway. The engine stalled and since I had been pressing the clutch down during the spin, the car, suddenly and silently now rolled backward toward the shoulder of the road, where we came to a stop with the nose of the vehicle partially sticking out into the slow lane. We were alive and had apparently come out of this event without a scratch. How was this possible? Wasn't this the type of accident that results in a significantly different finale?

...all possible outcomes exist at all times.

I really don't know what the statistics are, but I believe that had any vehicle come into contact with our spinning car the outcome would have been much worse. Was there something special watching over us that night? Was it coincidence? Was there Divine intervention? In the circles of quantum physics it is theorized that all possible outcomes exist at all times. That being the case perhaps in some dimension we did not necessarily survive the accident but our consciousness chose our current plane of existence, thus we were able to go on unscathed... Is this possible? Perhaps this is far-fetched to some -- maybe it was simply a coincidence.

Like a cartoon character running off a cliff...

Is it wrong to ask questions? After all whatever it is, it is... But, if in fact, all outcomes exist simultaneously in any situation, can we consciously choose which outcome we want to acknowledge? Then does the outcome that we acknowledge influence or affect others, or do they not see the outcome the same as we do? Is an outcome of an event influenced by witnesses? If others see the event does their perception affect which outcome we may select? Like a cartoon character running off a cliff... the character continues running in mid-air for quite a distance as if on land, but once the character acknowledges the fact that there is nothing underneath, he falls. How did this common cartoon scene originate? Is it in fact a metaphor for us all? Perhaps we are simply limited by what we believe should happen in a given situation and thus we are the ones who determine the actual outcome -- not based on the possibilities but rather on the limited knowledge of what we have been conditioned to expect from the laws of traditional physics?

More questions arise. Do we all exist on the same plane? Do our fellow humans all exist in the same dimension as we do and at the same time? Do we all perceive the environment around us the same way or do we just agree on what may actually be quite differing perceptions? Is What I know as the color red the same thing that you see as red, or do we simply agree that a different personally perceived pigment or light characteristic is "red?"

Is perception the same as interpretation? I can ask the question and I can submit possibilities based on my subjective reasoning -- reasoning derived from my own experiences or personal observations. Since I am not a scientist, I cannot put forth a scientfic cause and/or effect... but, I can ponder and speculate.

Postcript - What the Bleep Do We Know!?

Postcript - after this column was posted, I was invited to view a film called What the Bleep Do We Know!? The film uses quantum theory to explain many related concepts. Click to find out more about the filmBibliographic Entry